Boot Scoot Boogie
by royslady51
Summary: After Bad Wolf Bay, Rose discovered two things: She couldn't abide the clone and she was pregnant with 10th's child...and one day she sent her daughter through the Cardiff Rift and into Jack's life. Once the nine-year old was safely in her Father's TARDIS and Tenth burned out another star to tell her, Rose took the long way home. PLEASE REVIEW AFTER READING.


Boot Scoot Boogie

**Summary: After that final hologram at Bad Wolf Bay, Rose found out she'd beaten the odds...special odds...and one day she sent the results of that 'win' through the Cardiff Rift for the child to meet her father...and into Jack's life until such time as the Doctor showed up to retrieve his daughter. **

Even _Harkness _didn't normally allow small children in the bar most frequented by him and his crew at night, but this one was special...and besides, the little one was teaching them how to line-dance...she was told off as a lost one, having come through the Rift and that gave him his excuse...though she wasn't lost at all...she was right where she was supposed to be. As she was an American from another era, like himself and from a distant universe like their poor, lost Rose, he'd surprised people by keeping the nine-year-old with him. He'd also sent out the 'siren' that sooner or later the Doctor _would _answer. It had taken two months, but he'd finally gotten a burst from the TARDIS that he was on his way in.

_"Heel to toe, doesy doe!" _She called out, leading the line as she usually did, all the regulars in row behind. _"C'mon' baby let's go boot scootin'," _She yodeled to Brooks and Dunn. Her cowboy boots, jeans, western shirt and hat were adorable as she toed the line. _"Cadillac, black jack, baby meet me out back," _Jack himself was on the piano for her. _"We're gonna boogie." _

_This _laughing, playful Jack surprised a _lot _of the regulars, when they realized there was no hint of the flirt _they _knew, anywhere to be seen. It certainly surprised Tenth when he came in, after they'd moved to doing genre karaoke and the little girl had the mike doing _Juke Box Hero_.

Jack joined the Doctor with a slight smile. "She's _Rosie's_, Doc: Came through the rift." He eyed the excited dark brunette child, "And that means of course, I can't seem to say _'no'_ to her. Looks just like her mama, doesn't she? Minus the _blonde_, but that came out of a bottle anyway. _Except for one little detail_...which is why I kept her with _me_..."

The Doctor raised a brow when the small girl picked up a banjo and played along with a bluegrass melody playing on a boombox. She got close to Tenth and when he squatted down to her level, she moved to make sure he could watch her fingers scramble to keep up. Note for note she was spot on, grinning her mother's tongue touched smile she looked up into his eyes, instead of at her fingers as she played. He found himself smiling down at his lost love's talented child as she displayed who she was for him.

"You're my mama's Doctor, _ain'tcha_?" She asked, her high, piping voice certain of his identity, even as she exchanged banjo for fiddle and started another tune. "Mama said that's why I can play so much stuff. _Smart and fast_, she said, just like my blood Poppy...that's you, see." She told him, somehow managing to pop all _three _'p's, he noticed, feeling a little jealous at this feat. "That John guy ain't my _real _poppy, she said, no matter _what _people think over there, 'cause she won out on those odds Poppy told her about."

_"Did she?"_ He was more than a little stunned: Four million to one odds against a human female bearing a natural child to _any_ Time Lord male and Rose had beaten them?

"Yep!" She told him, popping the 'p' the same way he did and making his hearts catch for a second. "She said you said she'd have to be like you to use the button...so she waited til I was nine and sent me through cause it wasn't fair you didn't know and plus there's stuff ain't nobody else can teach me. BUT she said she raised me American on purpose, whatever that means, cause she wouldn't say why except it was on account of something you told Uncle Jack oncet. But she said _this _universe's Doctor was my real Poppy." She told him, then bolted off for the dance floor, before the next song could start.

Jack started laughing as the jukebox started playing some music from the seventies and the girl began to disco. _"Whether you're a brother or whether you're a mother," _She sang along, _"You're stayin' alive, feel the city breakin and everybody shakin', but you're stayin' alive, stayin' alive."_

"Doc?"

"Yeah?"

"You're _sunk_."

"Yeah...but it's a _good _sinking."

"Yeah...it is..._quite well done_, that was. Think you're gonna have more resistance than I've had?"

"Nope." He popped the 'p' as his daughter had done.

"She's got the twin hearts, Doc."

"I know. _That's _what Rose meant." He moved onto the dance floor and began to test her endurance...only slightly, mirroring her moves to test her cardio and told her when and how to try kicking in the bypass. It worked and she grinned at him, kicking her respiratory one in on her own, and mirrored his smile. At the end of it he scooped her up, enjoying the way her skin was so much like his own, let her hug Jack who was waiting with her things, then took her upstairs to the Rift. The TARDIS had only just refueled at a rift on a distant world a few days earlier so topping off hadn't taken much.

He entered with his daughter, looked up at the ceiling and said, "Rose sent me a Gallifrayen daughter through the rift, old girl. She hasn't even told me her name."

"Marion Rose, backwards from mama's, just for you, she said."

He smiled through falling tears. "Is John good to her?"

"Not really. He's _creepy_. Mama didn't want him...she said she never wanted a substitute. So she moved us to the States when he wouldn't let her be and no one would tell him where she went. Changed her citizenship and all. _Grandma_ said the creepy little stalker finally just gave up an' married the Sarah Jane that never met _you_, instead."

"_Did_ he?"

"Yep. She _said_ that the Creep told Grandpa he'd make _one_ of'em happy anyway...and that Sarah didn't know what she was missin' like mama does. Mama told me not to _ever_ lie to you, Poppy. _No matter what._ Said it'd be hard on you, at first, but you'd need to be able to trust me to tell you the truth when we land somewhere weird, _so_..."

He nodded, throat tight, but he agreed. "She's right. Why America, though?"

"She just said she's lookin for somethin' called thin spots but she won't use'em yet. She just wants to make sure she's _got_ some. She said she thinks she maybe zapped herself, too, an' not just Uncle Jack, at some place called Game Station...and...um, there's sommat else..." She screwed up her little face trying to remember. "OH, yeah...mama wants you to use another star _and let her know I got to you okay."_

"That's fair. She _needs _to know that." And in a few days there was another three minute hologram sent to Rose, though on a deserted beach on the Pacific coast instead of at Bad Wolf Bay.

"I _found_ them, Doctor. Marion is safe enough with you...so...I'm gonna try. I have to. I can't stay here now." She told him. "Lefts, you told me once, would lead me back to our own universe and rights to the next one over. So, I'll be taking rights from here. Sorry to scare you but...Bad Wolf stopped my ability to age and I heal faster than _you _do. You might notice I don't look like I used to...I'll let you draw your own conclusions. If you reach the same one that changed you from Nine, you're right on target. It's not safe for me here anymore, so I'm gonna give reaching you the hard way a shot."

"You don't have a choice...they've got an Area 51, that alone..."

"Yeah. _Thought _so...but I wanted Marion with you, first. If I can't get there, you'll have each other."

"I know..._Rose_. I miss you, _so_ much."

"I know, I miss you too, old man."

"Jack baby-sitted until I answered him. She had him wrapped firmly around her littliest finger. Thirty seconds, Rose."

"I'll get there if I can. No promises. I don't know how this works. If you have echoes in other universes, let _them _know. Might need a lift to the next spot."

She faded out on the last word, leaving a cold star, a pensive Tenth and an impatient Marion. "Poppy, mama _doesn't believe _in 'impossible'. She believes in _'find a way to make it happen'. _One of my friends at school was a Native American and she has a grandpa that's a shaman and he says mama's related to Coyote...got Trickster's Luck, she does. He says the closest mama gets to impossible is 'improbable.' an' that she don't get all that close to _that _either. And then he started laughin'. Said he felt sorry for anyone tryin' to get in her way once she'd got set on somethin',_ cause she makes up her own rules as she goes_, just like Coyote does."

Tenth looked down at his daughter, lips quirked and nodded. "He's got a really _good _point." He told her, scooping her up and going to the console to send them into the vortex. He had a few calls to make. He couldn't do it. He couldn't come for her..._he _couldn't make it happen...but maybe Rose _could_.

TARDIS worked out a way to send a Creation wide message to the TARDIS' in every universe with _any _Regeneration of Doctor...'my pilot's mate is trying to get home...this is what happened...this is what she's done already...this is what she's doing now, help her if you can'

There were startled faces in fourteen universes with a Doctor along Rose's path home, in each timeship the pilot in question raised his face to the ceiling in shock 'You said WHAT?'

Rose had developed a love of CCR while in America, and now, when she Shifted, _The Old Man Down the Road_ blared out to keep her mind on her next jump target. _Fourteen _Doctor loaded TARDIS' had commented on it and how well it fit. Their pilots had smiled that wide manic smile and agreed. She danced her way across Creation as she traveled..._her_ way. From homemade rip to homemade rip, she arced her flightpath, ever landing on Earth but she _felt_ the planet and if there was no TARDIS waiting for her she sent out a _call_...if there was no answer, she moved on. If there was, she waited. It was easier to let the Doctor _here_ take her through space to the next spot or to another planet, sometimes, if Earth didn't _have_ the spot she needed. There was always a TARDIS waiting on _those occasions_, to take her back to Earth.

Her body was in continuous motion, _always_. She either had music playing or she moved to some tune in her head...she thought that was just the way this body _was_. And having been _warned_, the Doctors understood, _oh yes_, better than _she _did, in fact, though they refused to explain, watching in fascination, yes, but they understood. Once in a while just to settle her down, they offered to let her help them in some kind of _interference _they had planned...she never turned them down.

That's when each and every one of them learned something. _If you improve a human body to the extent that her's had been, no Time Lord had a hope of keeping up._ She would grin and remind them, "A hundred thousand years ago, humans_ were hunting mammoth with spears_...our DNA hasn't forgotten the meaning of the word '_fit_' yet. So I got _that_ back, plus Time Lord energy levels. and _whatever_ has me dancing: Not that I've actually had to _use _the respiratory bypass yet..._ever_. I turn it _on_ once in a while when one of the TARDIS' wants to make sure it's working right..._what with all the lack of use in the field_..."

"Oi!" was the usual response, once they managed to _disengage _their own bypasses...her own normal human arrangement was working just fine for it _was_ proving that it had been far better designed by evolution than the Doctors had realized and _her's_ was conditioned to her needs.

Her Ten usually heard those 'Oi!'s of outrage and her answering laughter. His own TARDIS _had_ relayed the insulting tease once and he'd fallen back on his bed torn between laughter and tears. She was close and getting closer, he could _feel_ it.

There was a very sudden surge of energy in the rift, sending Jack and his team running up the stairs...it wasn't the dangerous kind...it had set off an alert that was very _specific_.

DO _**NOT**_ SHOOT ME JACK!

OWEN, STILL _**NOT INTERESTED**_!

GWEN, TOSH, GET A _**LEASH**_ ON THE LADS.

IF YOU HAVEN'T FIGURED IT OUT YET, NOT GONNA SAY WHO AM 'CAUSE YOU DESERVE IT FOR BEING _STUPID_...

BY THE WAY...HARMLESS _**UNLESS**_ ATTACKED.

_JACK HARKNESS_, GET YOUR ARSE _UP_ HERE AND CLEAR THE AREA IN DIRECTLY IN FRONT...I DON'T WANT TO ACCIDENTLY _KICK_ SOMEONE...

OWEN, IF _**YOU**_ GET KICKED, IT'S PROBABLY **NOT** AN ACCIDENT_...JUST SAYING. _

JUST USING THE RIFT AS A, WELL...AS SORT OF A _**SLIDE**_, I GUESS IS THE BEST WAY TO SAY IT. GONNA BE MOVING FAST WHEN I EXIT. REALLY, REALLY FAST...

AND I'VE GOT AN _**AURA**_ WHEN I **SHIFT**...IT'S _**REAL**_ FIRE, SO DON'T ANYONE GET CLOSE UNTIL I'VE TOUCHED DOWN. ONCE I'VE GROUNDED AND THE _SHIFT_ COMPLETES, IT GOES OUT ON IT'S OWN.

_**JACK...IS MY HUSBAND **_**THERE AND THEN,**_** YET?**_

Which meant the arriving party had _sent _that though, it was someone he personally knew and who was probably grinning at him. That happened once in a while. The tone of the series of informational messages indicated the arriving party was a woman...someone who knew them all pretty well and as a result, didn't really like Owen all that much. She had that in common with _most_ women.

_"Husband?"_ Tosh paused. "Jack, do you _think_..."

Jack was speed dialing Tenth, claiming that Cardiff had an unstoppable incoming arrival coming from the rift with no other information whatsoever included in the rapidly uttered voice mail and immediately hung up, wearing an evil grin. "Probably, but I won't _say_ so, 'cause I don't know that for sure. Still, _that _message _will_ get his attention."

This time it wasn't Old Man: Instead, _this_ time it was the chorus from _Will You Be There_, from the movie soundtrack of _Free Willy..._booming out of the rift. Rose Tyler arched on a web of power from the Rift just as she usually did when she shifted, her body as graceful as _any_ gymnast's, etching a line of fire through the air behind her as she completed the motion, landing spot on and continuing her dance over the rooftop...

"Stop staring, Jack." She told him, continuing to move, twisting and flipping _all over the roof_, "The Bad Wolf changed my DNA to Time Lady, is all...I've got _his_ energy combined with the sort of health humans once needed _to chase mammoth with spears_. Got to let it run out. Dancing is the easiest way...and plus, it's fun. _Where is my husband?_ "

Jack strained to hear over the loud music that was now blaring over every speaker in Torchwood, pointing at the sky above as the TARDIS materialized overhead. As her eyes lit on the open door and wildly waving Time Lord, the music changed to _The Hallelujah Chorus,_ making Jack grin.

"Good. His timing _has _improved. Probably Marion's doing, _I managed to train her to be punctual_." She grinned at Jack's laughter. "This body _will _drive him nuts, you know that right? _Cannot _keep still."

"Oh, you _can_," Tenth told her, having landed and stepped out with their little girl, handing Marion to Jack and taking Rose in his arms, "Let me show you what causes that...and what _cures_ it." He pulled her half of their bond to himself, attaching it firmly to himself at the anchor point of his own, then 'plugged' the loose end of his own into the anchored point of her's...and she went..._still_. Very still, not even swaying in the aftermath of a full year of nearly constant motion. "An unfulfilled, but identified Soulbond _will _do that to us."

"No wonder the others were staring at me like a bug under glass!"

"The fact that you had linked to one of us_, a Doctor_**, **told them they each had a Rose coming for them...it gave them hope. Our TARDIS signaled their's when we arrived, while she was landing to confirm you made it...they know they won't be alone much longer." He told her before covering her mouth with his own.

She _still _had a better set of lungs than his bypass could help him attain, she was still managing fine when he came up for air. _Her_ bypasses, she explained gently, were called _'nostrils'_. He shook a finger at his laughing Rose and their giggling daughter as he struggled to breathe.

"If you use your _nose_ to breathe, you're fine with a tongue half way down your throat, 'cause tongues aren't long enough to block the airway, Poppy." Marion told him to Jack's howls of laughter as Rose cuddled her daughter, then asked Jack to keep her occupied on board while she spend however long it took for her to reemerge from the bedroom with Tenth.

He nodded, shooing them off while he sent the TARDIS into the vortex himself. He glanced at Marion, "Five days to a week...if we can keep them fed that long?"

"Yeah...I think we can manage that. Auntie Tar thinks we can do it longer, though. She's giggling."

"You're on...you keep track of the calendar so we do make sure they come out at some point later on _this_ year. Then we'll see how long we can convince them they just went back in there."

~ TBC ~

Eventually, the idea is that only Rose can really manage her daughter...too much like her Poppy, except that being what he is, he of course has no more resistance than Jack does. So we get several 'I thought I told you not to wander off or get things on the boil without telling me?' moments between Ten and Marion going every time Ten turns around. And he never does get the three-naming thing down right. If your kid is still laughing or worse, has STARTED laughing, you failed.

There's gonna be a conversation between Ten and Marion, involving who can do the most p-popping when reciting Peter Piper Picked...and the intention is to make them sound like a popcorn popper going full blast once they get started: Preferably in front of Jack.

One future plot point is that I'm gonna pair off Marion with Jack: Cause I like him...and if I put him with a gal that's designed to handle him...so I'm going to fix something up where there only one chance she has...which is a blood transfusion from him. This is a good time to shoot holes in it if you want.

Another is make Ten listen to a Ray Steven's tune called Southern Air...(you need find it and listen to it)...since I've got a couple of OCs that want to convince him, _as a joke_, that they actually intend him to _ride _in one.


End file.
